The speeches have been made in Parliament, condolences offered and sympathy extended, and now the Government is thinking seriously about finding out what caused the Pike River mine disaster."We need to ask some hard questions about what went wrong,&q
The speeches have been made in Parliament, condolences offered and sympathy extended, and now the Government is thinking seriously about finding out what caused the Pike River mine disaster.
"We need to ask some hard questions about what went wrong," Prime Minister John Key said last night.
"Those families deserve answers, they deserve to know what happened and why, and ultimately what can be done about it."
Cabinet will discuss setting up a Commission of Inquiry on Monday and Mr Key said he anticipated it would include at least one Australian mining specialist.
"It will certainly have a judge, we need to work our way through it," he said on TV3's Campbell Live programme.
Mr Key was in Greymouth yesterday, talking to the families of the 29 miners who died.
"One or two of them said to me the last thing they wanted was to close down the mine, because they wanted to be there and they wanted others to have employment," he said.
"We need to satisfy ourselves that the environment is safe, that coal mining in New Zealand is safe."
Mr Key said the first thing that had to be established was what went wrong.
"We know by definition there was a massive explosion, there was a build-up of methane, and something ignited it.
"It got beyond the tolerance level where it was safe."
Earlier yesterday Mr Key said he found great sorrow but no anger when he spoke to the grieving families and the rescue teams.
"People realise this has been a great tragedy...for now, they are recognising the scale of the tragedy and taking solace from the fact that so many people from around the world are giving them comfort, love and support."
Mr Key presented Grey District Mayor Tony Kokshoorn with a book of condolences, to be kept in the Greymouth council chambers for the public to sign.
A condolence book was also opened in Parliament, where MPs, visitors and several ambassadors queued to sign it and leave messages.
Normal business was suspended in the House and as a mark of respect Parliament adjourned after party leaders had spoken about the tragedy and paid tribute to the miners.
"The scale and the horror of this tragedy has dragged us all to the entrance of the Pike River mine and we stand there, together with the families of the West Coast community, contemplating what might have happened in the dark," said Deputy Prime Minister Bill English.
Labour's deputy leader, Annette King, said West Coasters were going to need all their strength of character and fighting spirit in the days ahead.
Progressive Party leader Jim Anderton said Pike River presumably had state-of-the-art technology but that hadn't saved the lives of the 29 miners.
He said it was the responsibility of Parliament, mine operators and the Government to take steps to strengthen mine safety as a number one priority.
